Hey all,
Thinking about a career change!, ive been doing Trademarks & Patent work for the past 7 years, looking to get into Graphic Design (was always my thing at school). I kinda just fell into my job now after leaving school… so looking to make a career change before it gets too late! :hehe:
Anyone do Graphic Design and know of any good learn at home course’s I could do?.. any advice would be great! :D:D:D
Well if it was your thing then who did YOU not create your profile pic and get others to do it for ya! 
Im a graphic designer… Have a look on google or something, all depends on how high a level of education you want to do…
im thinking about it too…
i work in print, i can operate a MAC well, re-touch, cut outs, image manipulation etc coming from a graffitti background and have an imgaination makes me kinda creative:D
tho within my trade, MAC work is going down a bit, pages are no planned by us but by teh mags inhouse.
i have been moved into teh proofing room cos im multi skilled:hehe: so now im proofing and scanning, tho i want to do MAC work…
difficult decision for me, i been at my place 12 years.
yamalot…let me know what ya find out;)
:Whistling: haha… Ive only got Paint Brush to work with, but I suppose a good work man doesnt blame his tools! :w00t:
Ive been having a good scout around for courses to do and qualifications, just want to get an idea of the type of qualifications that are a must have. Ive seen this course though which seems to incorporate alot of what I may need.
dude download Gimp…its free…and its not a bad alternative to photoshop;)
I run my own design agency and I wanted to offer a bit of advice.
Ratty - if you are serious about design then please make sure you spell everything correctly and punctuate properly!
Design is a difficult business to get into even if you have a degree in Graphic design, for every Junior job we advertise I will get about 200 applications. ANY with spelling mistakes go straight into the bin. The biggest thing you will be judged on is your portfolio. This needs to show a range of work from newsletters/magazines, to logo’s and identity work. One of the most important things is the ability to be able to discuss the work and present your ideas and method of thinking.
You will need a good knowledge of QuarkXpress or Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator programmes, 90% of print design is Mac based.
Other areas to consider would be web design, conference/exhibitions or Powerpoint, these are areas that traditional design courses are less focussed on and you could teach yourself the software and skills part time.
A good Powerpoint operator is hard to find, and you can either work for a corporate, design company, or Event company, either full-time or Freelance.
For example:
http://jobs.workstation.co.uk/presentations_specialists_london
I’m a graphic designer also.
Although the course looks attractive, no one really takes these quick fix courses seriously. You’ll need at least a degree to get a job in the industry or a lot of contacts and a very good portfolio to work as a self employed designer. And like Kickstart says the work is versatile so you’ll need to be very open-minded.
But seriously most graphic designers are meticulous w@nkers, so I’d find something else to do 
Also you need to figure out what you want to do…
Is it for PRINT or for the WEB.
both can come under graphic design but both are quite different in what you have to learn…
Just as a note!
STAY AWAY FROM POWERPOINT!!!
Its a program that is the spawn of the devil and is used mainly by corporate/business people who want to bore you with their terrible diagrams and badly formatted bullet points (managers etc). I have avoided as much as possible to not use this program as it will zap any love of graphic design, you should be able to get away with not using it, obviously I can use use it… but HATE IT!!! 
Good advice, Microsoft is the anti christ!
or a lot of contacts
[/quote]
Making afew now! :w00t:
Does look a very hard business to get into… im stuck at the end of it!, when the logo’s, etc are designed im in law firm that gets them registered at the Patent Office! :D:D
I think I’m just a wnaker to be honest! 
You know what I mean, go out for a drink and the topic if conversation is ‘look at the leading on that, and they used comic sans’!! for god sake its a pub poster!!!
Still guess I bore them senseless about bikes/streetfighters.
Hmmmm… il look into doing Web Designing then! :hehe::w00t:
There’s never an excuse for using Comic Sans. Ever, ever, ever, ever.
… Ever. 
I suggest MarkerFelt as the way to go…
Regarding the presentation designing, I know a few agencies using Apple’s Keynote software to produce their work. The results are very good compared to PowerPoint.
Keynote is a good programme (I use it myself). I agree about Powerpoint being a shocking programme, however most corporates use it for all their work (and would not consider Keynote). A large chunk of my business on the conference side is taking a pile of poo that a corporate has produced and turning it into something that at least looks attractive and legible. I would say that the problem is less with the programme and more with the users lack of basic design knowledge (plus the “Would you like me to make this presentation look like sh*t?” option that Powerpoint supplies).
I’m offering Powerpoint as an example of a design field that somebody without a degree could get into more easily. I’ve worked in the presentation industry for over 20 years (before Powerpoint was even invented) and have seen how everybody thinks they are a presentation expert. A good freelancer working at a conference will earn about £250-£300 per day, you need a bit of retouching experience with Photoshop as well.
My “traditional” designers here all hate Powerpoint and will not touch it on pain of death, hence I know there is a gap in a very busy market.
PS if you want to ban Comic Sans you should go here:
http://bancomicsans.com/home.html
Yes this is a good point that I was going to say myself. Powerpoint is a program that many people use. If you had to alter or correct a slide or 2 then you would not create the whole thing in Keynote which I believe is a Mac only app and Powerpoint does not work for me 100% Mac to PC and Vice versa. It all depends on why you are doing graphic design, to fill a gap in the market or to do it for ‘the love of design’. I have tried to do the latter and from there hope that my enthusiasm and skills have been able to pay the bills and give me cash for my new steed etc…
I think you would have to try out various disciplines that interest you and that drive you, from there you will hopefully be able to see your strengths and progress from there…
Anyway enough of Powerpoint, Have a look at the Adobe Packages
http://www.adobe.com/uk/ they do have trial versions for you to play around with too…
http://www.adobe.com/uk/downloads/
Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop for Print
Above +
Dreamweaver, Flash, CSS, HTML etc for web
After Effects and Premiere etc for moving images and animations
Kickstart: If you have any freelance that you want to throw my way.
Here is my website, http://www.intalex.co.uk
Its an old format but the work is good. Being a print designer I am working on a new site as we speak…
